Busy busy!

L to R: Honey La Fleur’s toe shoes; Scarlett D’Evil practices her splits; Plucky Rosenthal was sad because all of the sweet potato fries were gone; Finch lends a hand with corset tightening; Jolie’s costume details (gorgeous!) Blurry Faustina

Man, last night was FUN! I love that show at Uncommon Ground. It’s just always such a good time–the venue is great, the dressing area is large and comfortable and the place provides free wine and delicious food from their menu for the performers. Gotta love craft service.

I was a tweeting fool last night. I took all kinds of photos backstage and posted them as we went. Totally fun. (See above)

Yesterday was a total blockbuster. I made a new banner for this site (yay! I love it.), went to teach beginner class, then picked up E and Aunty Onion (my BFF and her boyfriend) so we could walk around the Lakewood Balmoral garage sale day (there’s a weekend every year where the whole hood has a million and twelve garage sales, then we went to one of T’s eight million gay boyfriends’ houses for a BBQ and then I headed out for the showAt the garage sales, I encountered some lovely old gals who were selling vintage hats. They had a metric ton of them and when I told them that I performed burlesque, they wrote down all of the information excitedly and said that they’d try to come out and see a show. Adorable. I scored a large black straw hat (at left) from them and a home-sewn wool tweed pencil skirt (also at left) from another house. (And yet another jean skirt. I love jean skirts.)

Today is going to be another busy one. We’re going to another of the gays’ houses for brunch–we got some champers and some locally-made ginger liqueur to bring (literally. It was made a few blocks from here. You can go volunteer for them and I think I might look into it)–and then we’re off to Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park. After that, we do the Joie de Vine show tonight. Phew. It was not a very relaxing weekend, but it was activity-rich. I am looking forward to next weekend, with its mere ONE show.

This week should be fun. I am meeting with a pile of guest stars for the show that I’m putting together that I will announce very soon. It’s going to be an amazing one. I’ve put out a call for set designers and I’m going to pull in a costume designer soon. And the main ensemble is all lined up and locked down. I have a few more calls to make about guest stars, but the ensemble lineup is incredible.

This week I am also going to work on PR. I’ve been a little lax about it since Naked July and it’s time to step it back up. We’re also going to start looking for Board Members. In case I didn’t mention it here, we got our Illinois non-profit status in July and we’re going to work on the 501(c)(3) soon. That’s right, Girlie-Q has become its own good cause! It’s about time, really. I’ve been doing this for about six years now and it’s officially time for officialness.

All right, I need to jump now. I have to go get pretty for the Gays (PastryChef is making brunch for MainGay’s birthday, which is today.)

xox, Ms. Bea Haven

Blogging blogging blogging

New costume, coming soon. (See below and thanks to the Lady Miss Vagina Jenkins for the dress.)

All righty.

I’ve been severely neglecting my blog here for a while. To get back in the practice of daily writing (and to prepare for this year’s round of NaNoWriMo, which I plan to do in November again this year), I’m going to write once a day for the next few weeks.

So away we go…

Fabric obsession!

Before I launch into this morning’s narrative, I just have to mention a few upcoming events…Very excited about tonight’s show at Uncommon Ground. We’re doing our monthly classic burlesque show, Le Cabaret Erotique (named for the Dirty Sanchez song “F*cking on the Dance Floor”…The lyrics “…your erotic cabaret is non-stop” make me giggle and it’s always classier to say something in a foreign language.) Show starts at 11pm and it’s gonna be good. Also, we have our weekly show, Salon DeVine at Joie de Vine tomorrow at 8 and 9:30. This month features Honey La Fleur, Jolie, Bizarre Sally and yours truly in a mix of neo-burlesque and performance art (and of course, sexy stripteases on the bartop, in the aisles and everywhere we feel like performing!). Both shows are always free, though we do have a $15 suggested donation for tonight’s show.

Also! The next session of classes starts on Saturday, October 2. Beginning class will still be held at Galaxie Chicago in their BIG, BEAUTIFUL studios and Burlesque for Performance (the advanced class) is moving to Belle Plaine Studio, near Irving and Damen. It’s going to meet twice a week and be geared towards a recital in SIX WEEKS. It’s a true immersion experience, so if you want to get into burlesque in a big way really quickly, sign up! You will be onstage with an amazing jaw-dropping act that suits your personality and personal style by Thanksgiving.

Blue fringe

I’m really excited about developing a new act for Varietease in October. The act is top secret, but I’m going to start working on the costume and a large set piece really soon. I shot a few photos of the raw materials for the costume and I’m psyched to get going on it.

Each of these materials was an adventure in procurement. The bit of sequinned fabric I found during a trip to my favorite fabric store in Chicago. It was sitting on a

Sequin Appliques

shelf in this dirty, hot, dingy basement and I picked it up. I didn’t really have a project in mind for it and during that visit, I was like, “Oh, I am never gonna use this! I don’t want to waste money.” so I set it back down on the shelf.

The I thought about it and thought about it and obsessed over it and obsessed over it. For two months. I am sure I even dreamt about a piece that I might develop that would involve the fabric.

The next time I was there, I made a beeline for the basement and…It was STILL THERE. That time, I decided it was complete fate that the fabric should be mine and I snatched it up. Still no project in mind, but I knew it would come in handy some day. Then I went to Atlanta for Mondo Homo. While I was there, Vagina Jenkins was getting rid of a few things, INCLUDING a gorgeous beaded dress in…(dingdingding!) the same color family. It was starting to come together.

Ms. Bea Haven outside the Stonewall Inn

Teal Fringe

Enter teal bra and 100 pieces of sequinned appliques from my OTHER favorite fabric store in Evanston, IL, just north of the City and where I grew up. This had both a teal color and dark blue. Then I went online to find beaded fringe to match all of these things. I ordered it from EGYPT–this was when I started feeling all cool and international. The paypal bill came in when were in NYC and I paid for it via Paypal on my smart phone while sitting in the historic Stonewall Inn with my partner T. It arrived at my place of work the day I got back from vacation.

I felt like, “Whoa, what a brave new incredibly small and shrinking world we live in. I can purchase something from Egypt, pay for it on my phone, and have it shipped internationally and arrive three days later.” It was cool.

So now all that remains is to build the huge set piece I’m planning and make the actual costume. I’m planning on working on it over the next month. Will keep you posted here.

Video Friday: Bitch, Please!

Before I launch into the Video Friday feature of this site (and BOY oh BOY did I need this particular video the last week), I just wanted to remind everyone that I will be performing at Uncommon Ground on Devon tomorrow night (Saturday) and at Joie de Vine on Sunday. We’re also very very close to making a HUGE announcement about an upcoming show…Stay tuned, kittens. This is an AMAZING one…(I swear, Girlie-Q just gets bigger and better. I’m super duper psyched to announce this and I can barely hold it in!)

Back to the feature: Chris Crocker must be my new hero, because I have watched this at least ten times over the last week.

Video Friday: Homage to Manhattan

This week, me and my special lady went to New York City to visit a few friends and bum around as tourists. It was a great time and we just got a nice chance to relax and chill out for a few days.

So, in honor of NYC, for Video Friday this week, I am visiting my favorite (FAVORITE) opening sequence of a movie about NYC, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, which is probably my favorite movie of his. (Yes, even more than Annie Hall. Sorry, Underdog.)

Enjoy!

Long time, no post.

I have been seriously neglecting my blogging duties as a writer and performer who also makes the occasional foray into criticism.

Bad Ms. Bea, Bad!

So, it’s been a great few weeks. We finished up our run at National Pasttime, which was totally, completely fun. The show was very tight by the end, my fellow performers were amazing, and the space, well, it was interesting being there. I really loved the double-level-ness of the set, which allowed for us to play with taking burlesque up and down stairs. And I also loved the vintage feel in there and the fact that it’s definitely haunted. Crazy times, crazy times.

In other news, we’re having a meeting this week of our “ensemble” (such as it is) to determine the next show. I can’t say too much yet, but I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna big big, kittens. Big. I’m also psyched because I just booked myself for a huge Halloween show. I’m working on a new piece for it and it’s gonna be cool. I’m excited to work on something new and start pulling together a big costume and props. Awesomeness.

Pause to dig through giant-pile-of-crap-on-my-desk

Today, man, it’s one of the gorgeous days that makes you super happy to live in the Midwest. I always love the beginning of fall slash end of summer time when it’s nice and cool, but still pleasantly sunny and perfect. It’s just one of those days. I’m psyched to go teach my class and then run errands in such gorgeous weather. Makes me happy to leave the house.

Tonight, if the weather holds out with it’s gorgeousness, me and T are going to go see this performance piece at Navy Pier. It looks AMAZING. It’s called Water Fools (Fous de Bassin) and it’s a French company’s staging of a performance that’s on the lake. I’m not quite sure how that works, but it’s being described as “Cirque de Soliel on the sea”. Cool.

All right. Since I forgot completely to post a video for Video Friday, here goes. This week, I found the “literal video” phenome on YouTube. It’s when someone remakes a video with new lyrics to the song to reflect the whack crap that is going on in the video itself. It’s hilarious and for your viewing pleasure, here is “Total Eclipse of the Heart“.